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I’ve said in the past that being a stoic is vital to success, especially in the investing arena. It’s frequently said that a down market means stocks are on sale and you should continue to buy and hold your positions. If we review my Jan 2026 overview there’s some hard losses there. It’s partly a bear market and partly the problem with the buckets I’ve been shoving money into.
Lets take COIW for example, since as the next lowest cost of the funds out of my Robinhood 9 it was the focus of most of January’s contributions to reach self funding stage.
COIW opened late Feb 2025 and it’s designed to track Coinbase (COIN), by generating a weekly dividend it is completely not sustainable over any given period of time because it eats itself paying dividends. I understood the risks, but my goal was cash in hand to put into other funds with the dividend, but first I needed it to afford 1 of itself every payout because that is the strategy I started with in December. Lets look at real numbers with Imaginary money:
The Day One Buy-In: Shares Purchased: 1,989.26 shares (for a $100,000 investment).
Inception Date: February 19, 2025 (First trade date).
First Trade Price: $50.27
| COIW Value | $100,000 Start | Dividends Paid | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months from Inception Aug 19th | $78,913.94 | $23,194.77 | $102,108.71 |
| 11 months Jan 19th | $41,316.93 | $48,995.47 | $90,312.40 |
The almost $900 a week in dividends looks pretty good at the start, and maybe sustainable by the six month mark. This however is not the case by 11 months in. There is no quick win in the dividend game. $100,000 into VOO (S&P 500) on the same date would have a Jan 19th share value of $110,553.05 with $1,253.89 in total Quarterly dividends for a total return of $111,806.94. Which is a net difference of $21,494.54.
Since my goal has always been to reach $1000 in dividends a month. I will hold the line in this experiment through end of February. The funnel into Dividend Aristocrats has to kick in sooner or the losses will compound greater than the cashflow they were expected to provide.
~~Miniwing~~